"publication of ""Marie-Gabrielle de Saint-Eutrope"" in 1977, the explicit nature of Pichard's work led to a ban from bookshops and kiosks. Less scrutinized for its erotic emphasis are the collaborations Pichard did with science-fiction author Jean-Pierre Andrevon, ""La Reserve"" and ""Édouard"" from 1974 and ""Ceux–là"" from 1977, published in ""Charlie Mensuel"". Toward the end of his life, Pichard adapted classic erotic stories such as ""Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan"" by Guillaume Apollinaire, ""The Kama-Sutra"" by Vatsyayana, ""Trois filles de leur mère"" by Pierre Louÿs, ""La Religieuse"" by Denis Diderot and ""Germinal"" by Émile Zola. Georges Pichard Georges Pichard (17"
"to have been written in the 1st to 6th centuries, has a notorious reputation as a sex manual, although only a small part of its text is devoted to sex. It was compiled by the Indian sage Vatsyayana sometime between the second and fourth centuries CE. His work was based on earlier Kamashastras or ""Rules of Love"" going back to at least the seventh century BCE, and is a compendium of the social norms and love-customs of patriarchal Northern India around the time he lived. Vatsyayana's ""Kama Sutra"" is valuable today for his psychological insights into the interactions and scenarios"
"compiled by the philosopher Vatsyayana around the 4th century, from earlier texts, and describes homosexual practices in several places, as well as a range of sex/gender 'types'. The author acknowledges that these relations also involve love and a bond of trust. The author describes techniques by which masculine and feminine types of the third sex (""tritiya-prakriti""), as well as women, perform fellatio. The Second Part, Ninth Chapter of Kama Sutra specifically describes two kinds of men that we would recognize today as masculine- and feminine-type homosexuals but which are mentioned in older, Victorian British translations as simply ""eunuchs."" The chapter"
"Kamashastra (from Kama = pleasure, shastra = specialised knowledge or technique). This collection of explicit sexual writings, both spiritual and practical, covers most aspects of human courtship and sexual intercourse. It was put together in this form by the sage Vatsyayana from a 150 chapter manuscript that had itself been distilled from 300 chapters that had in turn come from a compilation of some 100,000 chapters of text. The Kamasutra is thought to have been written in its final form sometime between the third and fifth century AD. Also notable are the sculptures carved on temples in India, particularly the"
"manuals of erotics, while others commented on Vātsyāyana. Later well-known works include Kokkaka's ""Ratirahasya"" (13th century) and ""Anangaranga"" of Kalyanamalla (16th century). The most well-known commentator on Vātsyāyana is Jayamangala (13th century). Kaama ( ) is a Sanskrit word that has the general meanings of ""wish"", ""desire"", and ""intention"" in addition to the specific meanings of ""pleasure"" and ""(sexual) love"". Used as a proper name it refers to Kamadeva, the Hindu god of Love. One of the reasons for interest in these ancient manuals is their intimate connection with Sanskrit ornate poetry (Kāvya). The poets were supposed to be proficient"
"Vātsyāyana Vātsyāyana is the name of an ancient Indian philosopher, known for writing the ""Kama Sutra"", the most famous book in the world on human sexuality. He lived in India during the second or third century CE, probably in Pataliputra (modern day Patna). He is not to be confused with Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana, the author of ""Nyāya Sutra Bhāshya"", the first preserved commentary on Gotama's ""Nyāya Sutras"". His name is sometimes erroneously confused with Mallanaga, the prophet of the Asuras, to whom the origin of erotic science is attributed. Hardly anything is known about Vātsyāyana, although it is believed that his"
"which nonetheless remained a huge and encyclopaedic tome. Between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC, several authors reproduced different parts of the Babhravya group's work in various specialist treatises. Among the authors, those whose names are known are Charayana, Ghotakamukha, Gonardiya, Gonikaputra, Suvarnanabha, and Dattaka. However, the oldest available text on this subject is the ""Kama Sutra"" ascribed to Vātsyāyana who is often erroneously called ""Mallanaga Vātsyāyana"". Yashodhara, in his commentary on the ""Kama Sutra"", attributes the origin of erotic science to Mallanaga, the ""prophet of the Asuras"", implying that the ""Kama Sutra"" originated in prehistoric times. The attribution of"
"on original writings attributed to Vātsyāyana, a Hindu philosopher in the Vedic tradition who is believed to have lived during time of the Gupta Empire (4th to 6th centuries CE). The Kama Sutra was composed from many sources, not all of which were used in the Vatsyayana version. Deshmukh, the pseudonymous creator of Kirtu.com, claims to have chosen as its name the anglicization of the Sanskrit term for an untranslated and forbidden sex position in the uncompiled Kama Sutra texts that involves the penetration of all of a woman's orifices, much like the mythical Venus Butterfly position in the West."
"of love. Vatsyayana quotes this case to warn people of the danger arising from some old customs of striking women when under the influence of sexual passion. This king of Kuntal is believed to have lived and reigned, consequently Vatsyayana must have lived after him. On the other hand, another author, Varahamihira, in the eighteenth chapter of his ""Brihatsanhita"", discusses of the science of love, and appears to have borrowed largely from Vatsyayana on the subject. Varahamihira is believed to have lived during the 6th century, and therefore Vatsyayana must have written his works before the 6th century. Vātsyāyana Vātsyāyana"
"Kama Sutra The Kama Sutra (; , , ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ""Kama Sutra"" is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions, but written as a guide to the ""art-of-living"" well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. ""Kamasutra"" is the oldest surviving Hindu text on erotic love. It is a ""sutra""-genre text with terse aphoristic verses that have survived into the modern era with different ""bhasya"""
"700 BCE. According to Julius Eggeling (who translated the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina recension to English), the final version of the text was committed in 300 BCE, although some of its portions are ""far older, transmitted orally from unknown antiquity"". It survives in two recensions - and , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyāyas (chapters), 7,624 kāṇḍikās (parts) in 14 kāṇḍas (books), and the latter 104 adhyāyas, 6,806 kāṇḍikās in 17 kāṇḍas. The name given to the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina śākhā is due to its origin being ascribed to Yājñavalkya Vājasaneya whose opinions are considered authoritative and quoted prolifically in the"
"The ""Kama Sutra"" of Vatsyayana, believed to have been written in the 1st to 6th centuries, has a notorious reputation as a sex manual. Different sex positions result in differences in the depth of sexual penetration and the angle of penetration. Many attempts have been made to categorize sex positions. Alfred Kinsey categorized six primary positions, The earliest known European medieval text dedicated to sexual positions is the ""Speculum al foderi"", sometimes known as ""The Mirror of Coitus"" (or literally ""a mirror for fuckers""), a 15th-century Catalan text discovered in the 1970s. These positions involve the insertion of a phallic"
"of their bodies with clothes and upper part of body was covered by gold and precious stones, jewellery, while women used to wear traditional sarees made of silk and expensive clothes as a symbol of their wealth. As Indian civilisation further developed and the writing of the Upanishads around 500 BCE, it was somewhere between the 1st and 6th centuries that the Kama Sutra, originally known as Vatsyayana Kamasutram ('Vatsyayana's Aphorisms on Love'), was written. This philosophical work on kama shastra, or 'science of love', was intended as both an exploration of human desire, including infidelity, and a technical guide"
"sex. For example, the text discusses eight forms of ""alingana"" (embrace) in verses 2.2.7–23: ""sphrishtaka"", ""viddhaka"", ""udghrishtaka"", ""piditaka"", ""lataveshtitaka"", ""vrikshadhirudha"", ""tilatandula"" and ""kshiranira"". The first four are expressive of mutual love, but are nonsexual. The last four are forms of embrace recommended by Vatsyayana to increase pleasure during foreplay and during sexual intimacy. Vatsyayana cites earlier – now lost – Indian texts from the Babhraya's school, for these eight categories of embraces. The various forms of intimacy reflect the intent and provide means to engage a combination of senses for pleasure. For instance, according to Vatsyayana the ""lalatika"" form enables"
"Nadu with Hindu references to homosexuality going back as far as the 8th Century BCE text ""Satapathabrahmana""'s views on the third gender and homosexuals. The writings of Vatsyayana in the Kamasutra around the 2nd century BCE shows that homosexuality was positively depicted, that knowledge of homosexual and transgender sex was common, and would have been taught students/children through gurukulas as part of sex education (classical schools). The depictions show a range of homosexual and transgender sexual behavior such as fellatio and anal sex. The writings also provide a scholarly insight into how third genders were viewed at the time, where"
"on erotics (""Madanatilaka"", ""Forehead ornament of passion"", the earliest Kannada work in the genre of erotica, c. 1025) was in the court of Machiraja, a vassal of Jayasimha II. The Jain Sanskrit scholar Vadiraja was in Jayasimha II's court and wrote two epics, on logic, and a commentary on an earlier Jain text. His queen Suggaladevi was a disciple of the Kannada saint-poet Devara Dasimayya (one of the earliest Veerashaiva poets). According to the historians Chopra et al., this period saw Vengi fall firmly into the hands of the Cholas who would use their marital relations with the Eastern Chalukyas"
"the early Gupta period (c. 4th century AD). Other regional variations of these, as well as unrelated epics include the Tamil Ramavataram, Kannada ""Pampa Bharata"", Hindi ""Ramacharitamanasa"", and Malayalam ""Adhyathmaramayanam"". In addition to these two great Indian epics, there are The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature composed in classical Tamil language — ""Manimegalai"", ""Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi"", ""Silappadikaram"", ""Valayapathi"" and ""Kundalakesi"". India has had a long romance with the art of dance. The Hindu Sanskrit texts ""Nātyaśāstra"" (Science of Dance) and ""Abhinaya Darpana"" (Mirror of Gesture) are estimated to be from 200 BCE to early centuries of the 1st millennium CE."
"between 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD). The classification is detailed in later works like the ""Dasarupaka"" (10th century), ""Sahityadarpana"" (14th century) and various other treatises on poetics as well as erotic ""Kamashastra"" texts like Kuttanimata (8th-9th century) based on courtesans, ""Panchasayaka"", ""Anangaranga"" and ""Smaradipika"". Keshavadasa's ""Rasikapriya"" (16th century) in Hindi, also elaborates on the Ashta-nayika. The Ashta-Nayika have been illustrated in Indian painting, literature, sculpture as well as Indian classical dance. Notable medieval paintings that depict the Ashta nayika are the Ragamala paintings, as those from the Bundi school of painting. A famous example in Indian literature is"
"the wrong impression of it being ancient ""Hindu pornography"". In 1961, S. C. Upadhyaya published his translation as the ""Kamasutra of Vatsyayana: Complete Translation from the Original"". According to Jyoti Puri, it is considered among the best-known scholarly English-language translations of the ""Kamasutra"" in post-independent India. Other translations include those by Alain Daniélou (""The Complete Kama Sutra"" in 1994) This translation, originally into French, and thence into English, featured the original text attributed to Vatsyayana, along with a medieval and a modern commentary. Unlike the 1883 version, Daniélou's new translation preserves the numbered verse divisions of the original, and does"
"overcome ""self-doubts and rejoice"" in their ancient heritage. Original and translations Kama Sutra The Kama Sutra (; , , ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ""Kama Sutra"" is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions, but written as a guide to the ""art-of-living"" well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. ""Kamasutra"" is the oldest surviving Hindu text on erotic love. It is a ""sutra""-genre text with terse aphoristic"
"""Bala Kanda"" of the ""Ramayana"" is the earliest text to describe Ahalya's seduction in detail. It states that Indra becomes enamoured by Ahalya's beauty, learns of her husband's absence and comes to the ashram disguised as Gautama to request sexual intercourse with her, praising her as a shapely and slim-waisted woman. She sees through his disguise, but consents owing to her ""curiosity"". According to another interpretation, Ahalya's pride in her beauty compels her. Having satiated his lust, Ahalya requests that Indra, her ""lover"" and the ""best of gods"", flee and protect them from Gautama's wrath. The ""Kathasaritsagara"" (11th century CE)"
"has made a vow of burning herself (anvahorana, ""ascend the pyre""), but then ""retracts"" her vow, she must expiate her sin by the penance ritual called ""Prajapatya-vrata"" The oldest portion of the epic Ramayana, the Valmiki Ramayana, is tentatively dated for its composition by Robert P. Goldman to 750–500 BCE. Anant S. Altekar says that no instances of ""sati"" occur in this earliest, archaic part of the whole Ramayana. According to Ramashraya Sharma, there is no conclusive evidence of the sati practice in the Ramayana. For instance, Tara, Mandodari and the widows of Ravana, all live after their respective husband's"
"Ratirahasya The Ratirahasya (Sanskrit ) (translated in English as Secrets of Love, also known as the Koka Shastra) is a medieval Indian sex manual written by Kokkoka, a poet, who is variously described as Koka or Koka Pundit. The exact date of its writing is not known, but it is estimated the text was written in the 11th or 12th century. It is speculated that ""Ratirahasya"" was written to please a king by the name Venudutta. Kokkoka describes himself in the book as ""siddha patiya pandita"", i.e. ""an ingenious man among learned men"". The manual was written in Sanskrit. Unlike"
"duties) and ""karma"" (right earthly actions); only once they reach the Grihastya or ""householder"" stage can they seek ""kama"" (physical pleasure) and artha (worldly achievement, material prosperity) through marriage and their vocations, respectively. The ""Kama Sutra"" (Discourse on Kāma) by Vatsayana, widely believed to be just a manual for sexual congress, offers an insight into sexual mores, ethics and societal rules that were prevalent at that time. Shringara Ras (Romance, one of the nine rasas or emotions). A drama in Sanskrit, Abhigyana Shakuntalam by Kalidasa, cited as one of the best examples of Shringara Ras, talks of the love story"
"the name ""Mallanaga"" to Vātsyāyana is due to the confusion of his role as editor of the ""Kama Sutra"" with the role of the mythical creator of erotic science. Vātsyāyana's birth date is not accurately known, but he must have lived earlier than the 7th century since he is referred to by Subandhu in his poem Vāsavadattā"". On the other hand, Vātsyāyana must have been familiar with the Arthashastra of Kautilya. Vātsyāyana refers to and quotes a number of texts on this subject, which unfortunately have been lost. Following Vātsyāyana, a number of authors wrote on Kāmashastra, some writing independent"
"Svapnavasavadattam Svapnavasavadattam (, ) (English: The dream of Vasavadatta) is a Sanskrit play in six acts written by the ancient Indian poet Bhasa. It is probably the best known of Bhāsa's works. <br> The plot of the drama is drawn from the romantic narratives about the Vatsa king Udayana and Vasavadatta, the daughter of Pradyota, the ruler of Avanti, which were current in the poet's time and which seem to have captivated popular imagination. The main theme of the drama is the sorrow of Udayana for his queen Vasavadatta, believed by him to have perished in a fire, which was"
"Yogini Tantra The Yogini Tantra is a 16th- or 17th-century tantric text by an unknown author from Assam, India and dedicated to the worship of Hindu goddesses Kali and Kamakhya. Apart from religious and philosophical themes, this voluminous tantra contains some historical information. The text is especially important for the ""vamachara"" form of tantric worship. The northeastern Indian""Yogini Tantra"" manuscript referenced here should not be confused with a classification of Vajrayana Tantras known as Anuttarayoga Tantras which include a sub-class known as the Mother Tantras which includes a further sub-classification known as the Yogini Tantras. The Yogini Tantra was written"
"are the climax. In that very fire the gods offer semen, and from that offering springs a man. </poem> – ""Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 6.2.13"", ~700 BCE, Transl: Patrick Olivelle According to the Indologist De, a view with which Doniger agrees, this is one of the many evidences that the ""kamasutra"" began in the religious literature of the Vedic era, ideas that were ultimately refined and distilled into a ""sutra""-genre text by Vatsyayana. According to Doniger, this paradigm of celebrating pleasures, enjoyment and sexuality as a ""dharmic"" act began in the ""earthy, vibrant text known as the ""Rigveda"""" of the Hindus. The"
"Vatsyayana's Kamasutra is mentioned and some verses quoted in the ""Brihatsamhita"" of Varahamihira, as well as the poems of Kalidasa. This suggests he lived before the 5th-century CE. The Hindu tradition has the concept of the ""Purusharthas"" which outlines ""four main goals of life"". It holds that every human being has four proper goals that are necessary and sufficient for a fulfilling and happy life: Each of these pursuits became a subject of study and led to prolific Sanskrit and some Prakrit languages literature in ancient India. Along with Dharmasastras, Arthasastras and Mokshasastras, the Kamasastras genre have been preserved in"
"of idols, temples and shrines in Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. For example, Valmiki Ramayana, (various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE Ramayana#Textual History & Structure) has a mention of temples while describing the greatness of Koshala kingdom.. The 4th century BC text, ""Astadhyayi"" mentions male deity ""arcas"" (images/idols) of Agni, Indra, Varuna, Rudra, Mrda, Pusa, Surya, Soma being worshipped, as well as the worship of arcas of female goddesses such as Indrani, Varunani, Usa, Bhavani, Prthivi"
"with important details about the manuscript including other published versions in Indic languages. Yogini Tantra The Yogini Tantra is a 16th- or 17th-century tantric text by an unknown author from Assam, India and dedicated to the worship of Hindu goddesses Kali and Kamakhya. Apart from religious and philosophical themes, this voluminous tantra contains some historical information. The text is especially important for the ""vamachara"" form of tantric worship. The northeastern Indian""Yogini Tantra"" manuscript referenced here should not be confused with a classification of Vajrayana Tantras known as Anuttarayoga Tantras which include a sub-class known as the Mother Tantras which includes"
"Bathsheba at Her Bath (Rembrandt) Bathsheba at Her Bath (or ""Bathsheba with King David's Letter"") is an oil painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606–1669) finished in 1654. A depiction that is both sensual and empathetic, it shows a moment from the Old Testament story in which King David sees Bathsheba bathing and, entranced, seduces and impregnates her. In order to marry Bathsheba and conceal his sin, David sends her husband into battle and orders his generals to abandon him, leaving him to certain death. While the scene of David spying on Bathsheba had been painted by earlier artists, Rembrandt's"
"man with a dhol hanging from his neck and a woman holding a drum under her left arm. Vedas (c. 1500 – c. 800 BCE Vedic period) document rituals with performing arts and play. For example, Shatapatha Brahmana (~800–700 BCE) has verses in chapter 13.2 written in the form of a play between two actors. ""Tala"" or ""taal"" is an ancient music concept traceable to Vedic era texts of Hinduism, such as the ""Samaveda"" and methods for singing the Vedic hymns. Smriti (500 BCE to 100 BCE ) post-vedic Hindu texts include Valmiki's Ramayana (500 BCE to 100 BCE) which"